There still appears to be a belief by some that Leonor Cipriano didn't initially confess her involvement in the disappearance of her daughter Joana. Please ask yourself the question as to why did Leonor direct the PJ to the supposed burial site of her daughter if she didn't know what happened to her? Her actions were, to put it mildly, extremely revealing.

Some historic reports appear to have been taken down but this one by PÚBLICO remains.

Mother of Joana in preventative custody

Público25 September 2004

The Court of Portimão decided today the arrest of Leonor Cipriano, accused of the death of her daughter Joana Guerreiro, age 8, and determined a lighter coercion measure, periodic presentations to the authorities for the alleged murderer's brother.

The two suspects authored by Joana's death, which occurred 13 days ago in the village of Figueira, near Portimao, we present at the Court's premises until 2.45 a.m., where they had been heard from 17.00 yesterday.

Held on Thursday by the Judicial Police, the child's mother saw the suspicions confirmed by the judge of the Court of Portimão, who decided her probation, while her brother and uncle of the murdered girl is subject to periodic presentations to the authorities.

As on arrival at the court, the authorities staged a false start by the main door, leading the two suspects through the back door, to circumvent the several dozen angry locals that remained on site since yesterday morning.

The child's body remains missing, it is unknown whether the search operations on the banks of the river Bran, next to the railway bridge, will continue today. This was the last place indicated to the police by the child's mother, after more than a dozen false leads. As source from the GNR explained to Lusa, the child's mother said the body of Joana Guerreiro had been "hidden close to home until around 1:00 a.m. (day 13) and then transported by her uncle, in a plastic bag, and buried in the area where they picked cockles ", where the searches took place.

The law has since changed - arguido statements are now admissible, which was not the case back then. I think John's argument is that the torture occurred after her preliminary "admission" to a lesser charge. My argument is that the circumstances leading up to even that preliminary one aren't clear (deprivation of sleep, or any threat that could affect her family is a form of torture, for example). Her various (pro bono) lawyers had assumed that the case would be dismissed... but they were wrong.

Sorry Carana, your original post was lost in the transfer of off topic posts from another thread.

However, if I may respond albeit belatedly.

The initial admission by Leonor was to having slapped Joana so hard and in such a manner that she hit her head off a stone wall and succumbed to her injuries. She did not confess to first degree murder as we know it. Leonor's brother agreed with this in his own 'confession' stating that he thereafter hid the body.

We all know now of course that the story later changed to that of a child trafficking deal gone wrong.

Point is, whatever you choose to believe renders both Leonor and João culpable.

John, I used to think so as well, until I discovered that numerous witness statements hadn't been translated, one of which was Leandro's.

My summary of the following extract:

When Leandro had gone to the PJ station, at their request, he talked to Leonor alone. He asked her what she had told them and she said that she she had hit Joana and her brother killed her off because she had seen them having sex. She allegedly also said that the the body in an old house and João [levá-la às costas - not sure what that means]. Later, when Leandro visited the arguida Leonor in Odemira prison, she denied what she'd told him and said that she'd only said that because the PJ had beaten her. When asked whether, on the day that Leonor had admitted having aggressed Joana, she had shown any signs of having been beaten, particularly whether her face or eyes were swollen or bruised, he replied that he hadn't.

It's possible that she actually did confess of her own free will to the PJ that she'd injured the child.

However... it's equally possible that she was coerced into that confession (aggressive interrogation and an unofficial plea bargain (faced with the greater threat of being charged for murder, losing custody of her children, etc.). It's quite possible that she was punched at the time, but not around the face.

There was also a very long interview with Leandro in a newspaper which I can no longer find online. It was possibly in the AlgarveNews (which is in Portuguese) or Barlavento *, and I believe it preceded Madeleine's disappearance. The occasion was the anniversary of her disappearance - quite possibly the second - which would have been September 2006.

In it, Leandro stated that he and others had been beaten when they were interrogated... so why would Leonor have been spared? He also said that Leonor had been a good mother and had never even slapped Joana. If she'd been naughty, Leonor asked him to mete out any punishment, which was generally being deprived of watching TV. He didn't believe that she was capable of harming her (she couldn't even cope with chopping up a chicken). He wasn't too sure about João, but still tended to think that she'd been abducted. He also said that he felt sure that she had never been unfaithful to him during their time together and would certainly never have had sex with her brother.

Many other witness statements (ranging from neutral to positive) were never translated for some reason.

It doesn't even make sense that they would have had wild sex during Joana's errand as - quite aside from the risk of Joana coming back home, Leandro and the other guy who lived there could have stopped back home at any moment.

The PJ didn't even inspect the house until a couple of weeks after her disappearance. Although they did find a few specks of blood (human and animal), none of it could be identified, nor could there be any indication as to when they were deposited. The black torch that they flashed around would have shown up any biological trace - including sweaty handprints, particularly near a door if there was a light switch nearby. None of that is commensurate with the PJ's massacre theory, nor the supposed "confessions".

Before I get accused of making excuses for child murderers, I'm not. As I've said numerous times, if they did indeed do what they were alleged to have done, they can rot in prison as far as I'm concerned. The issue, for me, is that the alleged scenario is implausible in the circumstances and there is no other evidence to support it aside from the dubious confessions / "reconstruction".

ETA:

It was in the AlgarvePress. My recollection is correct: it was published on 12 September 2006 (i.e., before Madeleine's disappearance).

John, I used to think so as well, until I discovered that numerous witness statements hadn't been translated, one of which was Leandro's.

My summary of the following extract:

When Leandro had gone to the PJ station, at their request, he talked to Leonor alone. He asked her what she had told them and she said that she she had hit Joana and her brother killed her off because she had seen them having sex. She allegedly also said that the the body in an old house and João [levá-la às costas - not sure what that means]. Later, when Leandro visited the arguida Leonor in Odemira prison, she denied what she'd told him and said that she'd only said that because the PJ had beaten her. When asked whether, on the day that Leonor had admitted having aggressed Joana, she had shown any signs of having been beaten, particularly whether her face or eyes were swollen or bruised, he replied that he hadn't.

It's possible that she actually did confess of her own free will to the PJ that she'd injured the child.

However... it's equally possible that she was coerced into that confession (aggressive interrogation and an unofficial plea bargain (faced with the greater threat of being charged for murder, losing custody of her children, etc.). It's quite possible that she was punched at the time, but not around the face.

There was also a very long interview with Leandro in a newspaper which I can no longer find online. It was possibly in the AlgarveNews (which is in Portuguese) or Barlavento *, and I believe it preceded Madeleine's disappearance. The occasion was the anniversary of her disappearance - quite possibly the second - which would have been September 2006.

In it, Leandro stated that he and others had been beaten when they were interrogated... so why would Leonor have been spared? He also said that Leonor had been a good mother and had never even slapped Joana. If she'd been naughty, Leonor asked him to mete out any punishment, which was generally being deprived of watching TV. He didn't believe that she was capable of harming her (she couldn't even cope with chopping up a chicken). He wasn't too sure about João, but still tended to think that she'd been abducted. He also said that he felt sure that she had never been unfaithful to him during their time together and would certainly never have had sex with her brother.

Many other witness statements (ranging from neutral to positive) were never translated for some reason.

It doesn't even make sense that they would have had wild sex during Joana's errand as - quite aside from the risk of Joana coming back home, Leandro and the other guy who lived there could have stopped back home at any moment.

The PJ didn't even inspect the house until a couple of weeks after her disappearance. Although they did find a few specks of blood (human and animal), none of it could be identified, nor could there be any indication as to when they were deposited. The black torch that they flashed around would have shown up any biological trace - including sweaty handprints, particularly near a door if there was a light switch nearby. None of that is commensurate with the PJ's massacre theory, nor the supposed "confessions".

Before I get accused of making excuses for child murderers, I'm not. As I've said numerous times, if they did indeed do what they were alleged to have done, they can rot in prison as far as I'm concerned. The issue, for me, is that the alleged scenario is implausible in the circumstances and there is no other evidence to support it aside from the dubious confessions / "reconstruction".

ETA:

It was in the AlgarvePress. My recollection is correct: it was published on 12 September 2006 (i.e., before Madeleine's disappearance).

The husband of a convicted murderer has accused the Portuguese investigator spearheading the case of Madeleine McCann of beating a confession out of his wife. Leonor Cipriano, 36, was convicted of the murder of her eight-year-old daughter Joana, who disappeared in the Algarve region in September 2004 under similar circumstances to the McCann disappearance. In an exclusive interview, Cipriano's common-law husband, Leandro Silva, told ABC News that his wife said she was beaten repeatedly as police grilled her during a three-day long interrogation. "'They beat it out of me', she told me, 'they beat me until I confessed,'" Silva said as he recalled his first visit to his wife about a week after police took her into custody. "The only difference between the McCanns and us is that we don't have money," Silva said. "They have means, they have high powered attorneys that they can pay." According to Silva, his wife told him that chief inspector Gonçalo Amaral, one of the leading detectives in the McCann case, watched as police hit her in the face and chest again and again. Local newspapers have reported that Amaral and four other officers will be in court next month to face charges surrounding the beating allegations. But Amaral has not been suspended from his work on the McCann case. Cipriano is currently serving a 16-year sentence for the murder of Joana who disappeared in 2004 in a town less than 15 miles from where Madeleine McCann disappeared nearly five months ago. Joana's body has never been found. McCann, who was 3 years old when she went missing has also not been found, but the family and police still hold out hope that she is still alive. Kate McCann and her husband, Gerry, were declared "arguido," or official suspects, last month, although under Portuguese law, the police are not allowed to divulge publicly what evidence they have. But the couple, both doctors and substantially well-off, have been allowed to leave Portugal. Confession at All Costs AllegedSilva said his wife retracted her statement just two days after confessing to Portuguese police, but she remains in a women's prison in Odemira, about a two-hour drive from Praia da Luz. Joana went missing one night when her parents say she went for a short walk to the local market in her home town of Figuera, near Portimão. Cipriano was arrested and convicted, in part because of her confession, along with the discovery of some of Joana's blood, police say they found in Cipriano's home. Maddie also disappeared just minutes from where her parents were dining at the Ocean Club in Praia da Luz in May 2007. "I knew immediately that it was the police that had done that to her," Silva said. "They wanted her to confess to a crime she did not commit." He shakes his head back and forth saying that the police in Portugal don't work professionally. Amaral could not be reached for comment and police refused to talk about the allegations. "We all saw the bruises," Silva said. "My mother, my sister and me. Leonor's face was all battered and bruised, so was her chest." "Leonor was a good person, she didn't deserve this, but then there is no justice for the poor." Inequality Alleged Between Rich and Poor Suspects Silva, a 41-year-old auto mechanic, said his wife is not the only member of his family to be treated roughly by Portuguese police.

Maria de Lourdes, Silva's mother, who visits her daughter-in-law regularly in prison, said she was also abused by Portuguese police in Faro in interviews conducted during the Joana investigation. "The police in Portimão treated us really well," she told ABC News in her home near Lagos. "But the Faro police were awful. They gave us nothing to eat or drink the whole day," said the 57-year-old mother of nine. "They battered us physically and mentally." Amaral was always present during questioning, de Lourdes said her daughter-in-law told her. "He controlled everything," she said. "And he kept asking me: 'Did you see blood in the house?' 'I'm sure you cleaned the house with petrol to get rid of the smell.'" "They have accused us of everything that we killed Joana, that we stabbed her, even that we sold her," de Lourdes said. But as far as de Lourdes is concerned, the worst thing is not knowing what happened to Joana and then being blamed for her disappearance. "How can they prove that we had anything to do with her disappearance?" Privileged vs. Poor"If Kate McCann were Portuguese, she would already be in jail," said de Lourdes. The McCann's circle of friends and savvy contacts have been able to generate the kind of media attention that has made their daughter's face instantly recognizable all over the world. They have also hired top attorneys in Portugal and the U.K., as well as forensic experts to pick apart every DNA sample gathered by investigators. The couple has also received financial backing from a British millionaire Brian Kennedy, a move that may have saved the 39-year-old doctors from having to sell their home to cover their legal defense. Still, despite her bitterness over what she believes is her own daughter-in-laws wrongful conviction de Lourdes is convinced of Kate McCann's innocence. In fact the slightest mention of the couple brings empathy from de Lourdes. "I don't think that that woman is capable of doing something like that to her daughter," she said. "I just don't believe it." "The same Portuguese press that are now chasing the McCanns are the same journalists who were on my doorstep when Joana disappeared," she said. And while she knows that she and Kate McCann come from very different worlds their situations are parallel. "Our plight is not so different anymore," she said. "So I cannot help but feel for that woman. After all we are on the same path." De Lourdes recalls vividly the day Joana went missing. "I got the phone call around midnight," said de Lourdes. "My son Leandro was asking me if Joana was here with me." They then went to look for her at the cousin's house where she spent the afternoon. "When I didn't hear from them again, I assumed they had found her," she said. But the following morning when de Lourdes was getting ready to pick up her son to go to work, she saw her daughter in law Leonor walking down the street sobbing hysterically. "'Joana is missing,'" she told me. The girl's parents called police within an hour of Joana's disappearance. But according to Leandro and his mother, police did not begin searching for his daughter until 48 hours after they reported her missing. Life After Joana Silva remains convinced of his wife's innocence. But he is particularly bitter about Amaral, against whom he has lodged a formal complaint. "He (Amaral) should not even be working on this (the McCanns') case," said Silva.

If the beating charges turn out to be true it will hurt the McCann investigation, according to Roy Ramm, former commander of special investigations at Scotland Yard. Ramm told ABC News: "This is not something you would expect to find in the U.K. When someone has allegations of falsifying evidence and beating a witness and these are very serious allegations -- it does not bode well for the case." "People have to have confidence in the person leading the investigation," he added. "Otherwise the chances of a satisfactory outcome are jeopardized." In a book entitled "The Star of Joana," former Portuguese detective Paulo Pereira Cristovão alleges how police took too long in organizing a search for the little girl. Silva thinks his wife's beating was a simple matter of the police needing to find a suspect as well as maintaining a safe image for tourists who come to the Algarve. He calls the accusations against her ridiculous. "She was a great mother," said Silva. "She never even hit Joana, not once even when our little girl insulted her." Joana was not Silva's biological daughter but he insists she was still his daughter. "First they took my daughter, now the police have taken my love, my lifelong partner." Page

Thanks Anna. It's not the original that appeared in the Portuguese press (in Portuguese and before Madeleine's disappearance), but from memory it does seem to be an account of that interview.

I think that the Portuguese press, article, may have been wiped, but when I get someone to bring my old laptop in, I might find it is on there. Fingers crossed. I know the one that you are talking about and I believe that Leandro's brother and Joao were also mentioned on it.

I think that the Portuguese press, article, may have been wiped, but when I get someone to bring my old laptop in, I might find it is on there. Fingers crossed. I know the one that you are talking about and I believe that Leandro's brother and Joao were also mentioned on it.

Thanks, Anna. It was a long interview and I found it very interesting. It was published on an anniversary date related to Joana... before Madeleine disappeared.

Anna, the article (in fact it was a lengthy interview with Leandro) was published on the 2nd anniversary of her disappearance (12 Sept. 2006), if ever you stumble upon it.

I'm reasonably sure that it was in algarvepress.net (which no longer seems to exist).

I will see what I can find, Carana. I didn't keep much that I can remember from this newspaper.....but who knows. I just need to wait for my granddaughter to get my old laptop in for me. Fingers crossed there is something in there.

Better than nothing. It's long so I'll have to post in 2 or more batches.

Suspect that a lady who lived in Figueira is involved in the disappearance of JoanaIf Joana - 12:09:06

Leandro Silva, stepfather of Joana Cipriano, who disappeared on 09.12.2004 in the village of Figueira (Faro) while returning home after going shopping for an indication of the mother, still believes that the child, then eight years, was abducted or sold. Killed by his own mother and an uncle, as has proven by a court of Portimão, is that

The first hypothesis assumes Leandro for the first time in this interview for "Algarve press" his suspicions about the possible role of a friend of Joan, who eventually move to England. In relation to a possible sale, admits that "Drug" Joana's uncle "is capable of anything." He complains of the conduct of the Judicial Police and believes that "this story is very poorly told from the beginning."

From Prison Odemira, where he is serving a sentence reduced recently by the Supreme Court for 16 years after being declared, together with his brother John Manuel, guilty of first degree murder and concealment of the corpse of her daughter (who has not yet appeared) by the court consisting of first instance judges, Leonor Cipriano continues claiming innocence.

Chain of the Pinheiro da Cruz, near Setúbal, the uncle of Joana says girl sold by her mother and that the money is held by the family of his stepfather, which both deny. The PJ, in turn, maintains the belief that the minor was devoured by pigs. In this sea of doubts and contradictions, the only certainty is that, two years later, nobody knows the whereabouts of Joan or her that may still remain.

Algarve Press - Today, after exactly two years since the disappearance of his stepdaughter, Joana Cipriano, from the village of Figueira, near Portimao, where the family lived, what do you think actually happened?

Leandro Silva - I still think that has been kidnapped. In the latter case, if that happened, and was sold only to people who treat well. Is not dead. Do not believe it.

A.P. - Why believe in selling?

L.S. - I do not know ... But as the mother of John (Joan's uncle) already says that secondary to drugs and things he can do it ...

AP - Suspected, then, that John Cipriano had sold his niece?

L.S. - Compared to him I believe in everything and anything. But from the outset, I still think that especially Joana was abducted.

AP - The family has insisted that someone from Figueira could be involved in this situation? We also believe that?

L.S. - I believe. A lady turned out to go to England even before the trial, ie, one year after the Joana had disappeared. My whole family thinks she may be involved in this case.

AP - In Prison Odemira, home to nearly two years, Leonor Cipriano, mother of Joan, ever said that the girl could have been taken by someone with connections to Figueira?

L.S. - The Eleanor also thinks the same as us. And this lady spoke mainly due to the fact that thought go away shortly after the disappearance of Joanna. She was very fond of Jane, gave him clothes and toys. Everything.

AP - But just why I think she might be behind the disappearance of the child?

L.S. - No, it is just that. It's the way it came out of the country mean: large business that was in Figueira to go to work for others?

AP - But this lady that alludes, was a witness (in a recorded statement to future memory) in the trial of Joan case in the Court of Portimão, where he said the only thing not done and should have done was taken the girl in the family ...

L.S. - Look, this is also another one ... Well ... It think so ... This lady even took a turn Joana Hospital in the western, in Lagos because of a cough. And at the same time, I think, at least according to peruse came after the disappearance of Joana, who took the opportunity to ask medical tests to see if she had been raped. I do not know what was her idea. But not even asked her parents (in my case stepfather) if he could take the kid to the doctor or anything. It is the mother of Jeanne was at home.

AP - He came to seek an explanation for what happened to that lady?

L.S. - No, no. At the time, we brought no harm.

A.P. - When he began to distrust her?

L.S. - When it's gone in Figueira.

AP - Have you ever talked to the Judicial Police on that your guess?

L.S. - No.

AP - But by the time that Jane is gone, this lady was in the Algarve and was even the people most committed to working with family, attempting to locate the girl, and with the PJ in the investigations. So how could be involved in this case?L.S. - I don 't know. But they suspect it, suspect. It is the only person who, until now, I think I may have done something. It was she who was always with the girl. Where to see her, she would soon talk to. To death, and while there is no indication to the contrary, I continue to think the same way.

Neither kill a chicken knows how much to cut her daughter and give it to the pigs

AP - But the Judiciary continues to believe that Jane was killed in the house where he lived in the village of Figueira, and body dismembered and eaten by pigs in a piggery, where eventually come out and be slaughtered. What do you think of this version?

L.S. - I think not. That the pigs I did it to them (PJ) where they were when they sent me to talk with Eleanor in the Judiciary in Faro. If I had not talked them into pigs, nobody went. As I said in the animals, once said that Joan had been given to the pigs. The Leonor nor would it expedient. Not kill a chicken knows how much to cut her daughter and give her the bodies

AP - How did the information about the pigs?

L.S. - It was a big bullshit. The Leonor told me the area, although I do not know it because it took a beating in judicial or being instructed to do so. I do not know. Know is that she told me that path where there was a house and old cars. I told him that this road because I know there once. And I know there are some old cars and the only old house situated in the area. And there were pigs, which she confirmed to me then. Of course I tell the Judiciary what they asked me to ask you. That's where this issue was born pigs. And PJ was with me to the place depending on the particulars of Leonor. Now, do not really know if even the pigs eat human flesh or not. What I know is that the Judiciary has been investigating and there does not seem to find anything. They sure if there was anything, there would have been hair or other things.AP - But what you said Leonor specifically about pigs?

L.S. - She told me that John (the brother) had taken the girl piggyback and that she (Eleanor) was next to him. Then he told me that there Joana left inside this old house where are these two old cars, after which they came to the house where I lived fetch a blanket and went back there and they stopped the girl. This story about the disappearance of Joana is very poorly told from the beginning.

AP - The hours that left Leonor home that night?

L.S. - I was always home and did not see her leave. And at least in that house I lay me every afternoon. She would see up to as many movies.

AP - But after all, who would have released the body of Joanna to the pigs?

L.S. - As she said on Judiciary, the body had originally been hidden behind the wall in rubble that was near the house where we lived in Figueira. And I had been there on Sunday, the day the girl disappeared, Monday and Tuesday only in that it was taking. At night. To be true, some would always smell. But apparently, no one was there any smell, no noise heard at home on Sunday night. At least that's what the landlady said to me. And she, who lives in the first floor of the same building, says he hears everything, even when I went to the toilet. On that day, heard nothing ...

AP - As you understand, no one believes you, as the stepfather of Joan, do not know anything ...

L.S. - It's easy to everyone to think so. And you know why? Because people are not on our skin. Each has its idea. And I'm not up against them, no. If you were in their shoes, maybe thought the same. So do not bother me with that. Have not care importance.

Jane called her mother and her words remained silent

AP - heard many 'mouths' over these two years?

L.S. - Many, many.

AP - What he said after the disappearance of Joanna?

L.S. - So much. So ...

A.P. - They called it murder?

L.S. - Everything! But with the help of my mother and my stepfather, stood up well. I have a family that helps me.

AP - João Cipriano, Joana's uncle, sent two letters from Prison Pinheiro da Cruz, near Setúbal, a sister resident in the area of Enxerim in Silves, noted that the girl was sold by her mother. And in a letter by indicating that "whoever has money is a family of Leandro." How do you react to this?

L.S. - I would also like to know ... But it is just talk.

A.P. - and knew her husband's brother?

L.S. - No, John was seldom to my house. But when I went, was there one day, two days. It is those people who does not speak much. When finished eating, I was sitting watching TV and said nothing.

AP - Over a week before being arrested by the PJ, what he said to Eleanor, continuing to live with him in the same house?

L.S. - If I remember correctly, was at home until Tuesday (Joana vanished on Sunday.)

A.P-ever suspicious of his wife? Never surprised all of that situation?

L.S. - Dona Leonor? Never! Relied much on it. I continue to trust, even though sometimes look like a little dick.

A.P. - What something?

L.S. - Staying well in doubt. But trust her. She never did harm to her daughter.

AP - How was the relationship with Eleanor Jane?

L.S. - Good. Joana could tell him everything she answered nothing. Expected me to come home to tell me I give a 'castigozinho' the girl, who was put you in the room to do the homework. And just get out of there when I was done.

A.P. - Never slapped his stepdaughter?

L.S-Nothing! Never! Which way? Neither the mother, the more it.

AP - And ever saw hit the Leonor Joan?

L.S. - I've never seen. Who shouted with Joana was me.

A.P. - Why?

L.S. - Joana was refilona. And reached the point of swearing to call his mother.

A.P. - How, for example?

L.S. - Until he called him a bitch.

A.P. - But why?

L.S. - I do not know. Got angry and upset after the mother called a whore. I do not know if it were words that came out of the mouth or something. Then his mother told me when I came home from work.

AP - As Eleanor responded to listen to his own daughter to insult her?

L.S. - Just say that I would know. But I never beat her. By Ruben (son, now four years) came to spank twice or thrice. As Joan, ever. At least while he was with me.

AP - His son Ruben, who is with her sister Lara (3 years) in Catraia, support institution for minors located in Lagos, has told a social worker that "men led to Jane" ...

L.S. - Oh yeah ... he also told me the same thing and I think my mother too. But that pipeline was to hear about it. Sometimes, someone said or something and he had said the same.

PA-But what you said in your particular child?

L.S. - Men caught in Joana, threw her a car and were very hard. It was what he said when he was already in Catraia in Portimão. That is why it is said that the pipeline was some talk that he heard.

Joana's uncle, or was drunk or was instructed to acknowledge the death and dismemberment of her niece in the video shown in court

AP - You saw the videotape during the trial of his wife and his brother at the Court of Portimao, where John Cipriano took to killing Joanna and dismembered the body, hiding it in a refrigerated cabinet. What do you think of this confession?

L.S. - I think was he was with the glasses ...

AP - As we know, accompanied him on the day he made that rebuilding the house where Joana lived ...

L.S. - Followed. The Judiciary was get me to junk it because I had the house key. We went to the Penina waiting for more police personnel. Then I went to the bar of a gas station for fuel with two members of PJ have a beer. However, the car arrived with John and others of the Judiciary. They sent me to get this car, but forbade them to talk. The John was there with a beer in hand and was still clinging to each other. Although he does not know well, I think he was drunk when he walked inside the house to do what we saw in court. And I do not even entered. Just open the door. Then they walked that is coiled inside. I was always outside. In the video now in court, we see that John was not normal at the time. Or was instructed to do it or found himself drunk. Something he had.

AP - But what seemed to have assumed that he cut the body of Joan into several parts?

L.S. - The knives I had at home were all cooking, but small. And with barely an inch of blade. Never had large knives. What is that John would have at home to do what they told the Judiciary? Only if a neighbor to borrow an ax or a saw. Moreover, the refrigerator cabinet where he says he got the body is small. Just try to put two chickens in the freezer, you see that do not fit. After it has three drawers. To enter a body inside, they had to take the drawers, all out. The Eleanor nor can cuddle a chicken to cut the more cutting the body of Joanna.

AP - And John would have the courage and ability to do so?

L.S. - Tuesday, has. As his mother, a drug he is able to do everything. But nothing can assure me that he did. The John was very fond of her niece.

A.P. - would be more able to kill or sell?

L.S. - Why the drug, would be able to sell. Sometimes there could be debt or something. What Leonor told me, after a day or two, is that he sent to Joan to shopping and John soon followed behind her. And if anyone knows what happened to the girl, he will be.

AP - Have you ever sought an explanation from his brother?

L.S. - No.

A.P. - Why?

L.S. - Because he said that when he came out looking for me. But at the time, Leonor became suspicious with his brother.

Escape from young Austrian woman revives hope that Jane is alive

A.P. - spoke on drugs. What type of drug that John Cipriano consumed?

L.S. - Everything. But for the vein do not think so. Now, hashish and dust ...

AP - And Leonor also consumed drugs?

L.S. - Not even drank the more drugging. Just sometimes drank a licorzinho.

AP - What did you think when you saw the news about the young Austrian Natascha Kampusch who escaped from the kidnapper after being kidnapped in the basement of a house for more than eight years?

L.S. - I immediately thought the same would happen to Jen. I do not say now, already, already. But even if it was five or six years. If it is in the same situation who was that girl in Austria, will be expedient for free. Joanna is very smart. Even for age (eight years) that she had disappeared when it was already too smart. While there is life there is hope. And there's nothing you do in this life that do not come to know. Then we'd see ...

A.P. - What would you do then?

L.S. - I do not know ... That's harder to say. But someone must-pay for what we spent. I wish it to appear one day. We then talk ...

AP - What do you think the first action taken by the GNR and then by the PJ to try to discover Joan?

L.S. - I think the men of the Judiciary Portimão were not aggressive. Knew how to talk with us and tried to at least find something. Meanwhile, the Faro on the first day we came for, was soon to hit us when we got there. First it was a beating, after that did the questions. I think if the PJ of Portimão has continued to research, perhaps something had drawn somewhere.

A.P. - And the GNR?

L.S. - I had a deadline to do the job, as we said. Do not know who failed. Before, they said that only after 24 hours after the disappearance of Joana is that they could begin to look for it as required by law. I find this annoying because it is a child. If you were an adult with 18, 20 years, would be different. She could have gone to have with your girlfriend or boyfriend. Now, with an eight year old still having to wait 24 hours to be given officially as missing and go looking, is it weird.

They should have closed the house for anyone to enter there

A.P. - Also surprised that the police did not go immediately to the house where Jane lived and sealed the area?

L.S. - Look, this is another! While there were, instead of not letting me sleep there, they had sealed the house. They should have closed the house for anyone to enter. I would have taken only a few clothes and ready. The house had to be sealed. I've heard many people say the same. Then they say that the evidence was destroyed.

AP - How has your life these past two years?

L.S. - It's better now. Life can not stop. But in principle, when Joan disappeared, it was difficult not only for me.

A.P. - Which was the toughest moment?

L.S. - Must have been the punishment that I took on Judicial where they called me everything and then some. And I was beaten when they took me there. But with the punches and stand. Outside, the worst thing was we pass on the street and hear people insult us. Everyone says what he wants and we can not answer. Until I avoided going to certain cafes. But now I go into all. No longer hear anything. Now, everyone greets me and speaks well both in Figueira, as in Mexilhoeira Grande, where living. But even when going to Portimao or elsewhere, do not feel any problem.

L.S. - Well, are already in Catraia in Portimão will be two years. But soon will come out. In principle, Ruben will be with my mother, who lives in Mexilhoeira Grande. And Lara is going to be with my sister, who lives in the area of the Companion, in Portimão.A.P. - How is your relationship with them?

L.S. - It's good. I will get them in Catraia every Sunday. My Ruben has asked me to return home permanently. Likes to be where it is, but the family is different, as is natural.

AP - They have gone to see the mother to the chain of Odemira?

L.S. - My mom is working on it to see if there will.

AP - And how long have you not seen the Leonora?

L.S. - I do not know. Maybe a year ago.

A.P. - Why?

L.S. - Because now I have stolen the documents. And without these can not enter. I must find new roles. Just for this reason and she knows.

AP - Leonor who writes in the letters it sends to the family?

L.S. - Demands Money and anything it lacks. He asks when will we see it. She says she feels really miss the children that God is great and she is innocent. And I still believe in her innocence. There are times when I am so in doubt, but I am convinced that Leonor is innocent.

A.P. - What heights still doubt it?

L.S. - I do not know, sometimes when I get there and stop to think if she is innocent or not. Why? Because she once wanted to become involved in this case, telling the Judicial I helped her hide the body of Jane and Carlos Pinto that had led him to the scrap yard where he worked. And sometimes I'm thinking, but why she did it in? On the other hand, I also think that things were gutter mitted by them in her head.AP - You came to be accused in the process ...

L.S. - It's true. I scrambled a bit, knowing that I have nothing to do with the matter. But the case was filed. I just had to go to court as a witness at trial, in which also only spoke because I felt talk. Was not required to do so by being familiar detainees (Leonor Cipriano and his brother John Manuel). But I was a bit confused.

He hoped the acquittal of Leonor

A.P. - How he saw the trial?

L.S. - I was so nervous, I hardly know how I saw it. I knew that there would think of me.

AP-hoped the conviction or the acquittal of Eleanor?

L.S. - Were you expecting to come out freely.

AP - When he heard the sentence to sentence her to more than 20 years in prison, how you felt?

L.S. - It seems that time has stopped. I dunno ... for nothing. Now I feel better because, with appeals by the lawyer, the sentence has already fallen. He may get even more anything.

AP - What you said Eleanor after being convicted?

L.S. - Just said to trust her because he did not kill the daughter.

A.P. - with all this, what you learned in life?

L.S. - There are days when you can not leave. If the day that Jane has disappeared, I had not left the house, nothing would have happened. But today, I am a calmer person. Just leave home to work and go to the cafe. Or else go to Portimao to Catraia see my children. Nothing more.

A.P. - They ask the mother?

L.S. - Ruben is asking a lot but still have not told you. When they come together for me, I will tell them the truth about where is the mother. But Ruben has pulled me once the conversation to say that the mother is imprisoned. I told him no, that the mother was just a walk around and do not know when. When Leonor was arrested, I told my children that their mother was grounded because he behaved badly.

A.P. - and ask for Joanne?

L.S - Lara, no. It was too little, when his sister disappeared. As for Ruben, he inquired of principle. Not now.

AP - How was the relationship between Jane and her siblings?

L.S. - It was good. Joana's who took care of them while the mother was doing other things.

If Joan was mistreated so my and my Ruben Lara also were

AP - The PJ says he found Jane's underwear with traces of sperm, thus concluding that she was sexually abused, and being a victim of abuse as indeed appears from another process. How is that possible?

L.S. - It said the traces of sperm were mine. Then said it was Carlos Pinto, who lived in the same house. They came to say it was my brother Bob. Later, they told me to be comfortable, that had nothing to do with me. I did not know what had happened.

AP - But as could be no traces of sperm in girl's clothes?

L.S. - It also makes me confused. I do not know. I think it is poorly told by the Judiciary.

AP - admitted that there had been carelessness on the part of Eleanor to clean the house and doing the laundry of the children?

L.S. - The house was always clean. The clothes were always in the basket for washing. When one day appeared at the house's technical Commission for the Protection of Minors, as a complaint that said the girl was abused, even these women filed the lawsuit because they saw all right. Were 11.00 and my wife was making lunch for the kids. And there never dreamed it would house. Just not too pleased that the kids they were eating crackers. And asked that they did not often claiming that the crackers are bad. I wonder who was the person Figueira, who was telling the Commission for the Protection of Minors that Joan was mistreated. It's one that I think this lady was that he went to England at the time of the trial of John and Eleanor suspect her at all. My wife has never been a bad mother for the kids. There was much speculation in the midst of all this. If Jane was abused, then mine and my Ruben Lara also were. With six months, my Ruben had some legs that were thicker than my arms.

AP-still thinks back to live with Eleanor one day prove that, after all, she is innocent?L.S. - Now, I do not know. But I believe she is innocent.With AP-40, that way you are trying to rebuild his life?L.S. - I have eight months ago a new companion. We'll see how long.